Tuesday, 29 April 2014

I finally found the time and money to hop on the nose piercing bandwagon, horray!

I love it, from the minute I saw it I was so pleased I did it - it didn't look different, it looked like i'd always had it pierced, which is kind of surreal but also great news for me as I didn't think it would suit me.

It was a lovely sunny Thursday when me and Lauren popped to the Corn Exchange to get it done. I also purchased these shades from Blue Rinse the same day, Lauren then purchased them about an hour later - great buy.

I was umm'ing and ahh'ing about getting this done for a while as I knew none of my family would approve - not as much as they disapproved my tongue bar anyway!! My mother actually liked it as it's tiny and can barely see it however I received a disappointing reply from my dad and the rest of my family just didn't bring it up. I decided to get it pierced as even though they may dislike the idea that I have a 'hole in my face', it's not their body and besides I barely see them when i'm living away at uni anyway.

I can't wait till I can change it, I want to buy a cute etsy stud or just a plain ring, maybe even both. The only bad thing is that I keep fiddling with it which sometime looks like i'm picking my nose (opppps)

Sunday, 6 April 2014

I have fallen in love with so many backpack recently, I only actually own one - this need to change. Backpack are so easy to wear, stuff everything in them and just throw them over your shoulder and thats that, perfect on a spring/summers day (whenever the sun arrives) to pack your camera and picnic in for a bike ride. I say it's that easy but I always get paranoid when wearing one, incase someone pickpockets without me realising.
There is a small pale pink frilled backpack I fell in love with in Topshop the other day, which sadly isn't on this post as it isn't actually on the website. Other backpacks I really like at the moment are, The New Look Backpack in Want List #1, Pull & Bear Patchwork Tan Back Pack and Bowery Mini Backpack from Gypsy Warrior (which I just forgot to put on this mood board, opppsie)

On either side of the mood board are two beautiful backpacks from Free People, who sell luxury and fabulous gypsy/boho hippy chic style clothes and accessories. I love both of these backpacks, I really wish I had the money to buy the leather one, however at £398.00 - I'll probably give it a miss.

I put the Hershel bag on the mood board for a bit of a joke. David actually has the bigger version of this style and when we saw it in Urban Outfitters yesterday we hilariously both stood next to each other with them on, twinnies!

I don't think I can pick a favourite out of all of these bags because they are all so different, however when loan day comes along (only a couple more weeks away now). I definitely think that the Pale Pink backpack will make an appearance in my Topshop basket or at least one of these.

Sunday, 30 March 2014

My mother's day was spent playing scrabble and baking with my beautiful momma. For my mums birthday I bought her the Lorraine Pascale's 'A Lighter Way To Bake' which is packed with a load of lovely recipes which aren't too naughty for you - the brownies are like 50 Kcals less than the average recipe. Personally I didn't like the sound of these muffins and was very dubious about trying them however I actually really enjoyed them and they are only 155 Kcals!

Method:
- Pre heat the oven to 200'C, Fan 180'C, Gas Mark 6. Line the muffin tin with 12 paper cases
- Steam the sweet potato and butternut squash for 5 minutes until tender
- In large bowl, mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder
- Beat the egg and egg whites in a large jug
- Beat the milk, yoghurt, oil and maple syrup until smooth and well combined and add the egg mix
- Mix the wet mixture into the dry mixture with as few stirs as possible
- Add the butternut squash and sweet potato along with the sage and salt and fold in
- Spread the mixture between the 12 cases
- Scatter the grated apple over the cases

Pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes. The centre may be damp from the moisture of the vegetables but the cakey part shouldn't look raw.

Send me your links if you have baked the same recipe, I want to know your thoughts! I really enjoyed them!

My brother sent me this while away at uni of my mum with her Lauren Pascale Carrot and Apple Cake, the cutie hahaha!

Thanks for putting up with me and being the best friend and mum I could ask for. Love you forever mumsy!

Hope you've had a fabulous and loving day with your mothers and families. I've been home for the weekend to see David (since valentines day I've only seen him for 5 full days, which sucks ass) and today I've spent the day baking with my Momma. Last night I made her a card however I bloody forgot her present.

ahhhhhh! This is so so cute! ahhhh, my heart melted watching this. This is Misa Minnie at 22 weeks old, showing how clever and obedient she is. She is so ennie weenie, if you check out her facebook to watch her grow.

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This was trending on facebook yesterday, as the BBC posted the incredible video of this woman hearing for the first time in her life. So overwhelming, I got goosebumps. It's so incredible that we have the technology today to help people with horrible diseases, like this woman!

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have released this official photograph of them with Prince George and their dog yesterday. They have released this ahead of their tour around Australia and New Zealand.
I love the composition and pale hues of this photograph, Prince George looks adorable and handsome already and I love how he is staring at Lupo. I do love the Royal Family.

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Oh, I do love Tom Fletcher and his adorable videos, I hope you all saw the time lapse video of their 9 month pregnancy - from Bump to Buzz. My friend posted the link for this video on my wall yesterday and I can't believe I haven't seen it sooner. It's just sooo good, and I love how fluffy his ginger cat is too.

Wednesday, 26 March 2014

Last night, well, this morning, we went out at the fine hour of 1am to shoot some photographs for our Sun & Moon Boutique website. Which, will hopefully be launching next week! 2 hours later, after lots of outfit changes and mid shoot squatting, Hayley had turned into an ice cube. Today the plan is to fit in editing and uploading more garments on the the website around uni work and Hayley is planning an editorial/advertisement shoot to be shot in the next couple of days. In the mean time check out our new twitter page

Saturday, 22 March 2014

Risky, you say? Yes, I hate jeans and tops that are waist length... I'm a freak, I know. Confidence issues suck, but I love this outfit!
I'm loving River Island recently, I haven't been shopping in a couple weeks and I fell in love with everything in sight. There was so many different patterns, colours, styles, and this top caught my eye, it's so colourful! Paired with some simple black jeans, the ones I have picked are from Topshop, something of which has never been on my legs before. I just hate jeans, how tight they are (I say that, but I wear leggings all the time, which doesn't make sense) and uncomfortable and I don't like how they look on my legs - I'm yet to try how amazing Topshop jeans are. I want these shoes, I actually love ALL the shoes at Urban Outfitters right now, I just hate the price tag. I think they have similar shoes in Primark at the moment (I can hear them calling me) which most definitely won't be £80.
I'm also finally on the Michael Kors watch bandwagon, I want this watch so bad! I'm not a fan of the massive rose gold jewelled style but when David kindly sent me the link to the Amazon deals on Michael Kors watches and I actually saw a couple which I really liked. I can't believe the prices either, most of the watches are 'more affordable' than I thought they were. Dammit now I need to find a spare £140...

Friday, 21 March 2014

Sun & Moon Vintage, yes, it's coming...
Hayls and I have chipped in and finally got round to buying our first items for our new vintage/pre-owned/just as fabulous clothing business! Which we will soon be unleashing onto interweb for your perusal and purchasing cravings. Here's a sneak peak of our website and the photoshoot!

I will keep you updated when the site goes live, keep your eyes peeled!

Sunday, 16 March 2014

Today is the day spring festival of colour in the Hindu calendar. Holi is celebrated by throwing, playing and chasing each other with dry powder to resemble love and belonging with lots of dancing, music and singing involved. I would love to be in India right now!! Hopefully in August we are going to the Holi One Festival in Leeds, which is inspired by the Hindu festival.
Ever since I met Sonia at university I have fallen in love with the Indian culture; the festivals, the colours, the jewellery, their family ethics, the dancing, well just everything else. She showed me the video below of an amazing, magical wedding the other day and I can't get over how incredible it would have been to be there. Obviously, the family must be utterly minted, especially to jet their wedding guests off to Vegas! I'm just waiting for Sonia to get married now... She is actually bringing some henna back to Leeds with her, so if you follow me on Instagram, I will put some pictures up but in the mean time you must watch the whole video!!

Monday, 3 March 2014

My 2014 goal has been broken, I haven't done this post each week - sorry! But I've had a busy couple of weeks. If you've not seen my previous post, I've managed to get myself a placement, signed a house for next year and worked a hell of a lot. Uni work is also piling up too, second year is getting harder, ahhhh. Hayls and I have also been brainstorming ideas for our plan to open a vintage re-working business - 'Sun & Moon'. Still early days but it's very promising.

These little fellas are Orchid Flowers, they all look like something else!
From top to bottom, left to right we have: Dracula simia (the monkey orchid), Orchis Italica (the naked man orchid), Habenaria radiata (the white egret orchid) and Caleana major (the flying duck orchid).

Very sciency, but so cool. What will happen when you wring out a cloth in space? I totally didn't expect it to turn out the way it did. Incredible, I love how he is just floating with the microphone! You really don't think about the implications that life would be like without gravity!

I really enjoyed this article in Huffington Post. Meet 'Mayhem', a 4 year old girl who loves to make dresses with her mum out of paper and cello-tape. The whole article is adorable, Angie (her mother) talks about how they sometime look up current trends and copy their dress, or just get creative and create whatever spring into mind. There is sooo many different dresses, apparently it's a 50/50 effort too, Angie wasn't home one day and made one without her! I assume we will be seeing her in the FROW in a couple (maybe more) years time!

Friday, 28 February 2014

I'm currently in the library and I've just gotten so bored at looking at share prices that I needed to blog a bit to de-stress myself. We have a presentation in a month about 2 companies that we are reviewing the shares and news of, I know nothing on reading up about share prices, so if you know of any good advice/hep sites then please comment!

Anyway, here's a little update of my life:
I have finally got a placement sorted! HOORAAY. I start 2nd June as a Trainee Accountant, I'm so scared yet so excited. Luckily I managed to get the placement in Leeds so we have also just signed for a new house for July with the girls. Me and David are also planning on booking flights for Spain in the next week or so as we're going to Bilbao BBK Festival in July and then travelling around Spain after.

1. My bargain Vans £20.80 from O'neil / 2. We made homemade facemasks

3. I made a microwave cake in a mug / 4. A cute sciencey drawing which I loved

5. Valentines Day was wonderful, nothing silly, we had a lovely day and ate Pancakes! He is a charmer, eh! / 6. Hayls Valentines gift also finally bloomed and they're beautiful

7. I bought a kingsize duvet set from the Charity shop yesterday and I plan to make a dress and possibly a skirt out of it soon! How cute is the pattern! / 8. Me and Sonia dramatically gave blood, we both nearly fainted however it was totally worth it! I really think this is something everyone should do, or at least try, I almost couldn't due to iron levels, it's not scary at all, I promise!

Wednesday, 19 February 2014

I saw this backpack in New Look yesterday, oh my. Me and Lucy had to leave the shop quickly before we bought it (I'm so poor right now - I just paid a deposit for a house for next year which has skinted me and I've totally over spent this month) Anyway, the bag. It's just beautiful. I really don't think that this picture does it justice, the colour doesn't look the same as it does in the flesh. At a reasonable price of £19.99, I'm trying not to give into temptation but it would fit all my uni books in perfect, right?

I've wanted these treggings from Topshop for ages, I'm a huge fan of patterned leggings and these need to make it in my wardrobe.

I picked this Ganesha Amulet from Dixi, an on-line boutique for vintage and modern jewellery. I bought a couple of necklaces from their sample sale last month which are beautiful, I'm going to do a blog post soon as my second one arrives (unfortunately it broke in the post) but I can't stop wearing them! I really like this Ganesha Amulet as it comes on a rope cord which would look great as a long necklace or tightened as a choker for a more grungy look.

Friday, 31 January 2014

I had my first placement phone interview the other day and I have another one at the end of february, how exciting! Things are looking up, however I am getting so fed up with writing out application forms now. We have also been house hunting this week so if I manage to get a placement in Leeds, I have somewhere to live...

I love photography, I got an A* at GCSE and A at A Level, in the back of my mind I kinda wish I went into it instead of accounting. This incredible work is by Nicolas Bruno, who is actually the same age as me - bit depressing. He uses his sleep paralysis dreams for his inspiration and creates fantastic surreal photographs. I'm definitely going to try and get some more film photography done in Feb, might even use my dreams as inspiration... I think they might be a bit too crazy to photography though. I actually dreamt of kittens the other night and actually squealed out loud, I terrified David and I was woken up by him shaking me, hil-arrrrr-ious.

Bit strange? Yes, but totally cool. Pregnancy/birth is such a magical experience and this is such a rare occasion, I think its incredible that the baby didn't even know it had been born! Amazing. Definitely reading the source!

Oh god, this is hilarious. Have you seen any performances from the Grammys yet? Well I watched Taylor's performance before I saw this version and I was like she wasn't attacked!?! Then I watched the video hahahah, it really does look like is she is having some sort of stroke or something. Beyonce and Jay-Z's performance was so raunchy too.

Saturday, 25 January 2014

It's taken me like 2 weeks to finally finish this post, I've just not wanted to finish it and I don't know why... I submitted my essay the other week and I thought I'd finally see what all the fuss is about with Breaking Bad, and so far I am loving it, I will rport back once I've watexperience or tre. I'v lost my Ted Baker purse SOMEHOW in the house. If you don't follow me on Twitter, then you won't know, but I'm going out my mind. I think I've actually accidentally binned it and I'm so angry with myself.

Lucy and I pretending to be Disney Princess' in ASDA

I should probably tell you why we went to Manchester, well Lucy got 4 tickets to go and see The Jeremy Kyle Show, so we decided to make it a full trip! The drive to Manchester from our home is just over a 2 hours journey, but instead we thought we'd make it an extra hour longer and take a detour to the Peak District. A lovely pit stop to see the views, rocks and to have walk around. The Peak District is beautiful and is located in northern Derbyshire, it's full of hills, wildlife and the views are breathtaking. I'm so jealous of Lucy and her boyfriend who are going in the next month or so for a couple days, definitely want to go again, and this time bring my camera!

Lucy managed to find a great deal for an apartment in Manchester city centre, at Blue Rainbow Apartments for the night. In a two bedroom apartment with kitchen and living room, altogether it cost us about £50 for the night. Perfect location right near Deansgate Lock which is a 10 minute walk to the town centre. The only down side is they never told us that on arrival you had to place a £100 deposit for the room incase you drank any of the alcohol they conveniently left in the fridge. Luckily for us the card machine wasn't working so we didn't have to pay the deposit, which meant more spending money ehehehe.

How cute are the roses they left around the apartment

We got to Manchester about 3pm, checked in, dropped off our bags and got our bearings around the city. I tasted my first ever Taco Bell, wandered around Manchester and the Arndale for a couple of hours and then spent the rest of the night in the flat. Ordered a chinese later on and watched We're the Millers! Which was such a good film, very heartwarming and hilarious, definitely buying it for my DVD collection.
We woke up nice and early on the Thursday, after an amazing nights sleep, to do some retail therapy before we saw Jeremy. We went a little mad, David bought a telescope, I got a cute pale green phone bumper from HMV, 59p reduced from £14.99 (crazy savings, I know) and I finally bought a pink boyfriend coat from Miss Selfridge - it is gorgeous, my OOTD is here!
We then got some pub grub and rushed back to the hotel to grab the car and drive to Mediacityuk. We literally had no time to have a look around, we were told to get there for 14:15 and arrived bang on time so we had a couple of minutes to relax until we were called in. We didn't even get chance to get a picture with the daleks *sobs*.
When we were called in, we waited in the reception for an hour, so boring, then the team explained what was going to happen and ran through some likely reactions - lots of BOOOOOO, awwwwh and cheering! Obviously the better we were the more exciting the show is.
We then went through to the studio, walked behind the back of the scenes (where you see everyone storming off), the four of us were placed smack bang in the middle, third row up, which is where they place the family members, so we were switched about in each story. Unfortunately we were totally forbidden to take any pictures of the studio, it basically looks exactly the same as it does on the telly, however it seems so much more smaller in 3D!
The floor manager was absolutely hilarious, telling us everything that was going to happen with his cheeky jokes. We had a test run, while we were waiting for Jeremy to finish getting ready with some of the audience members.
We had three stories, all went really quick, we were in there for about 2 hours! They literally were one after another, and when Jeremy introduced the break it was silent for about a minute and then the show started again, so bizarre.
The stories where actually really tame, I won't go into detail but it should be shown on the telly in about 4 weeks! I'll give you a heads up when its going to be on! I definitely recommend you get applying for some tickets to see the show, I can just describe it as hilarious and an experience - hopefully you'll have more crazy story lines. If you cant get tickets (took us a couple months) you can always go to media city when they are recording and queue as they let a couple people in to fill up the spare no show priroty seats.